Authorities on Friday disallowed congregational prayers at the historic Jamia Masjid here as clashes rocked Shopian and Kupwara towns in the valley, police said.

Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, who delivers the Friday sermon at the mosque, said that this was yet another example of Indian repression in Kashmir.

Scores of people gathered in Shopian and Kupwara towns offering funeral prayers in absentia for the Ph.D scholar turned militant commander Manan Bashir Wani who was killed in a gunfight on Thursday.

Civilians staged protests in both the towns leading to the security forces using tear smoke shells and batons to disperse them.

The valley observed a protest shutdown on Friday called by the separatists against Wani's killing.

--IANS

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